WFC News

The Fire Department has been awarded a grant for $2,185 that will go toward outfitting a brand new truck that specializes in brush and forest fires.The grant covers half of the new equipment and was recently awarded by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The grant covers half of the total cost of the tools. Outfitting the truck involves a few sets of hand tools, two fire shovels, three specialized backpacks that hold five gallons of water, eight hoses, two nozzles, three dual radio harnesses.
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The grant was initially applied for in July 2018.The new truck is a Ford F550, which was sent to Canada where it was worked on to become a functional fire truck, a process that takes a couple months or so at the least.

Local firefighting personnel, under the tutelage of 24-year veteran firefighter/EMT and instructor Chuck Gunter, recently trained and were certified as Indiana Firefighting Vehicle Driver/Operators in the GCHS parking lot.

The largest of GFD’s firetrucks weighs in excess of 80,000 pounds, fully loaded. Smaller vehicles can carry 500 gallons of water to a site, some can carry 1,000 gallons, and the largest can carry up to 3,200 gallons. That affects the handling of these emergency vehicles.

The driving and maneuvering of one of these vehicles is only half of the training these firefighters need when they start. Learning to use all the equipment on a fire-truck is usually another week of instruction, Gunter said. Each truck is unique in what emergency equipment it carries, or it’s special unique function, whether it be carrying water, shooting water from a high elevation, or pumping.

Spokane County Fire District 10 (SCFD10) hosted a live fire demonstration on March 2 when a West Plains community member donated their property for firefighter training.
The owner of the property on Flint Road needed an old house on the land removed, with parts of the home dating back 110 years, Deputy Fire Chief of Safety & Logistics Jack Krill said. - PUB DATE: 3/19/2019 1:12:51 PM - SOURCE: Cheney Free Press

Unseasonally warm and dry weather had firefighters from around the region scampering to a host of wildfires and other burns Monday and Tuesday.
At press time, the latest fire was “a couple acres wide and growing” in the area of Grandview Terrace and Avellana Avenue in Longview’s Columbia Heights area, and authorities dispatched a helicopter to help fight the flames, said David LaFave, chief of Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue. - PUB DATE: 3/19/2019 12:42:43 PM - SOURCE: Longview Daily News

Police are investigating a possible arson after finding a portable toilet engulfed in flames in downtown Pasco on Tuesday morning.
The fire was found in Peanuts Park by witnesses who alerted a nearby officer.
Pasco Police said the officer tried to put the flaming portable toilet out with a fire extinguisher. - PUB DATE: 3/19/2019 8:12:45 AM - SOURCE: KEPR-TV CBS 19